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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To not know where to turn about vaccine fears?

280 replies

WaxedNotVaxed · 21/07/2021 20:41

I've started a new job in the NHS, I'm patient facing and there is pressure being put on for me to get the covid vaccine as soon as possible.

My fears are that I have PCOS and have always struggled with my periods and my cycles used to be 100+ days. Since having a baby a few years ago I have a 29 day cycle and I don't want to mess with this?

I'm scared about the vaccine making me infertile? Or having long term impacts on my reproductive health? It's scary enough with PCOS and I definitely want another child.

I'm overall just a bit skeptical as a 26 year old woman who wants more kids and has PCOS to get a vaccine without long term studies for a virus id likely only be mildly ill from?

I can't say this at work but I feel really anxious over it

OP posts:
XenoBitch · 21/07/2021 23:43

@Carycy

Livelovehappy - you would expect someone to risk their fertility for your sake? Aren’t you a love. And they call anti-vaxers selfish.
Ah, this is MN though. I saw a poster on here who was pregnant lay into another who was hesitant about the vaccine (trying to conceive). Was literally told she was disgusting and selfish for putting her desires above the health of an unborn baby of a lady she had never met. Seems a major and unreported side effect of the vaccine is losing your god damn mind.
BlatantlyNameChanged · 21/07/2021 23:44

OP wouldn't be risking her fertility though as there is no evidence of a link between the vaccine and fertility.

Over a billion people worldwide have been vaccinated and, including the clinical trials, it has been over a year since the first vaccines were given. If there was even a sniff of it causing infertility, don't you think there would be cases by now?

Ethelfromnumber73 · 21/07/2021 23:49

The virus is only slightly older than the vaccine so any long term effects of Covid infection (including on fertility) are also unknown.

Livelovebehappy · 21/07/2021 23:49

@Carycy

Livelovehappy - you would expect someone to risk their fertility for your sake? Aren’t you a love. And they call anti-vaxers selfish.
Nope. I wouldn’t expect her to risk her fertility, but I would expect her to choose a different job. It wouldn’t be fair to expect her to overcome her fears and put herself at risk, but likewise it wouldn’t be fair on the patients she is treating to have their fears of catching the virus overlooked. Both sets of people might have irrational fears, but you can’t have one person’s fears trumping a larger groups’ fears.
CalishataFolkart · 21/07/2021 23:53

The long-term effects of it are not yet known.

Yes they are. As has been explained twice now vaccines don’t stay in your body and cause effects years down the line.

It doesn't matter what health organisations / the government / other organisational body tells us. There is no way of them knowing it is safe until more time has passed.

Yeah, it doesn’t matter what those pesky scientists say with their evidence… Out of interest, even if vaccines can cause side effects after a lot of time has passed (which they can’t) how much time is enough before you would deem it “safe”? Five years? Ten?

PopcornMuncher · 21/07/2021 23:54

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Carycy · 22/07/2021 00:03

But as others have pointed out it can affect your cycle and the op has just got her cycles on track. Therefore she faces a real perceived risk it could affect her fertility in the short term.

And it isn’t easy to just switch careers. People have mortgages to pay, families to feed for goodness sake. You are all asking too much of healthcare workers. We are not your slaves. We are human beings. Get a grip of yourselves.

LadyLolaRuben · 22/07/2021 00:04

NHS manager here. Dont worry about it. Dont discuss it with anyone. You don't need to disclose anything. Just keep doing your job and put your own health needs and concerns above that of the expectations of others. You are not contractually required to have the jab

chunderwunder · 22/07/2021 00:07

I wonder where the idea that the vaccine affects fertility has come from. I guess it's the perfect candidate for a conspiracy theory because it's not something you can account for during the testing process and it taps into natural anxieties around future outcomes, particularly emotionally loaded ones like child bearing.

It's worth remembering that around two thirds of antivax misinformation is produced by literally a tiny number of accounts, maybe around 12?

These fears that people have because 'everyone is talking about them' are created by a very, very small number of people, usually for nefarious purposes. They have no basis.

You mght as well start a rumour that the vaccine's not safe because all women of childbearing age who have it will later explode on their 60th birthday. Is that true? Who knows. Difficult to refute right now isn't it.

ginsterloo · 22/07/2021 00:08

In my trust the uptake was around 90% of all staff (over 9000 people) had the vaccine, its your choice not to have the vaccine but the majority of people will judge you unfavourably and in my opinion rightly so because your reasoning has no scientific basis. Vaccine trials rarely go on for years because they provoke an immediate response so any side effects happen within hours and days not months and years, of all the known side effects fertility issues are not included.

BlatantlyNameChanged · 22/07/2021 00:16

You are not contractually required to have the jab

Yet.

But as has repeatedly been pointed out, no evidence doesn't mean there is definitely no link between vaccine and fertility. Evidence takes time to gather

There is not even a hint of evidence, no sudden increase in global infertility or even in any specific country, no suspicions of it outside of anti-vaxx posts online.

ilikecheesecake · 22/07/2021 00:20

I work for the nhs. I have had the vaccine as felt pressured into
It which I regret now. I have other colleagues who feel the same. There is also a couple of colleagues who haven't had it. it really is your choice. Do not be bullied into it.

Cocomarine · 22/07/2021 00:23

PCOS here.
Formal diagnosis - absolutely riddled with cysts!
2 cycles a year, without confirmed ovulation.
Had IVF.

Since periods returned after a year of breastfeeding, I’ve had ten years of

XenoBitch · 22/07/2021 00:28

@ilikecheesecake

I work for the nhs. I have had the vaccine as felt pressured into It which I regret now. I have other colleagues who feel the same. There is also a couple of colleagues who haven't had it. it really is your choice. Do not be bullied into it.
I have nurses visit me at home at the moment, and one said they really didn't want the jab but felt so pressured into it. No one should feel pressured into taking a vaccine.

People cry that people working in care roles that wont have the vaccine obviously don't care, and should rightly lose their jobs. I think it is so unfair for people to feel they have to leave a career they love, or a job they are doing to keep a roof over their head (am thinking care home staff here). OK, maybe make it a requirement for new employees but making a condition of employment for people already well established in their roles seems so awful to me. The people that will really suffer from this will be the people they care for. No one is lining up to work in care, or even the NHS.

Demelza82 · 22/07/2021 00:29

The anti-vaxxers /hoax brigade latched onto making up myths about fertility when they saw the vaccine was working so had to pull something out of their arses with a long term impact to scare people into lot having it. Disappointing to see how many people are buying into it - don't think you'll feel much like having a baby with Long Covid.....

CrowBones · 22/07/2021 00:33

@ilikecheesecake

I work for the nhs. I have had the vaccine as felt pressured into It which I regret now. I have other colleagues who feel the same. There is also a couple of colleagues who haven't had it. it really is your choice. Do not be bullied into it.
What is it exactly that has made you regret it?
PopcornMuncher · 22/07/2021 00:37

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XenoBitch · 22/07/2021 00:45

@PopcornMuncher

But as has repeatedly been pointed out, no evidence doesn't mean there is definitely no link between vaccine and fertility. Evidence takes time to gather

There is not even a hint of evidence, no sudden increase in global infertility or even in any specific country, no suspicions of it outside of anti-vaxx posts online.

Many many women have reported cycle changes after the vaccine.

I can guarantee that if men were reporting erectile disfunction as a vaccine side effect, they would not be told that it must be a coincidence, and it would be reported by the MSM.
StressyWoman · 22/07/2021 00:51

I understand people not wanting the vaccine but also think there are a few jobs where it is necessary and working for the NHS is one of them. I work in a bar and all staff will have to be vaccinated to go to work from September.

XenoBitch · 22/07/2021 00:54

@StressyWoman

I understand people not wanting the vaccine but also think there are a few jobs where it is necessary and working for the NHS is one of them. I work in a bar and all staff will have to be vaccinated to go to work from September.
Do you think a vaccine should be a requirement of working in a bar?
Dogvmarmot · 22/07/2021 00:59

@WaxedNotVaxed

It's not a hunch that it can affect your cycle. I have regular periods for the first time in my adult life after only ever having about 2 periods a year due to my PCOS. I hope to start TTC for my second next year and would be devastated if my cycles went to shit again making it so difficult to become pregnant that I am practically infertile. I did a degree alongside raising a baby to start my career within the NHS and to be told that I should have to lose everything I've worked so hard for or get a vaccine that could cause fertility issues for me when I want to try and have another baby within a year is heartbreaking. Of course I care about patients but is it that wrong to care about my health and my fertility too? I feel so fucking stuck.
Well not sure what you studied for your career but you seem to ignore that there is no evidence a vaccine would effect your fertility or even be able to do so. perhaps as suggested you go along to a vaccine clinic and tell them your concerns. Sounds like you have been working very hard and perhaps anxiety is making you focus on internet theories. Seems like any potential period disruption is temporary so best to crack on with your vaccines so all is back to normal while you try for second.
BlatantlyNameChanged · 22/07/2021 01:10

Many many women have reported cycle changes after the vaccine

Not the same thing as infertility.

The endometrium is part of the immune system. If someone has an immune response to the vaccine, which a normal reaction to being vaccinated, then this can include all parts of the immune system including the endometrium. This might make it shed earlier, not shed at all, or to shed lighter or heavier than usual due to it thickening/not thickening as much. These effects are temporary.

BlatantlyNameChanged · 22/07/2021 01:13

Feeling unwell can also delay ovulation which can cause a delayed period.

PopcornMuncher · 22/07/2021 02:03

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